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The California Assembly has approved a measure to make all 278 state parks and beaches smokefree. Now it heads to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature. Let’s hope that despite his cigar habit, the governor will do the right thing and sign the measure. The California Assembly votes tomorrow on a measure that would make all state parks smokefree. The idea is to cut the unsightly butts, curb the chance of fire and get rid of the secondhand smoke. Parking lots and campgrounds would not be included. If it becomes law, California would be the first state to make its state parks smokefree. Already, 100 cities have made their beaches smokefree, and more than 400 local governments have made municipal parks smokefree. Anyone in D.C. listening? It’s not such a radical concept. The California measure is being pushed by state Sen. Jenny Oropeza of Long Beach, who has battled liver cancer. We just got word that Mayor Adrian Fenty has signed “emergency” legislation that will allow cigar smoking at two upcoming hotel events. Shame on the mayor for letting down the hotel workers who will have to breathe toxins on those nights. And shame on the mayor for forcing workers to choose between their health and a paycheck. This measure places the health and safety of hotel employees at risk, as well as that of all attendees. By signing this bill, Mayor Fenty has given in to Council cronyism (Jack Evans sought this exemption for his own club, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick) and tells the electorate that the city does not take seriously its own laws. Smokefree DC has asked Mayor Adrian Fenty to veto the emergency bill passed last week by the D.C. Council that would grant a temporary exemption to the smokefree law. Fenty, who was a strong supporter of the smokefree bill when he was on the Council, has 10 days from the day he receives the bill from the Council to decide what to do. We are trying to find out now when it landed in his office. The Washington Post did a nice story on this today. Below is the text of the letter we sent: Monday’s D.C. Health Committee hearing on a permanent exemption to the smokefree law has been cancelled, and there appears to be no plan to hear the legislation anytime soon. Today, the D.C. Council told the electorate: We don’t take seriously the laws we pass.
The Council did this when it voted to allow an exemption to the smokefree workplaces law for Councilmember Jack Evans (Ward 1). Evans is a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, which wants to smoke cigars at its annual event. The ‘emergency” legislation Evans introduced would grant an exemption for hotels with ballrooms that hold more than 500 people.
This is terrible policy for several reasons:
1) Those who work the event will be breathing secondhand smoke, which causes cancer. The Council decided several years ago that this was unacceptable, which is why it passed the smokefree workplaces law;
2) It encourages other groups to seek exemptions, which could further weaken the law; and
3) It tells voters that the democratic process of lawmaking – the hearings, the testimony, the debate, the votes – doesn’t really matter if the Council wants to arbitrarily give friends a break and let them violate the law.
Shame on the Council for approving this request, and three cheers to the Councilmembers who didn’t : Chairman Vincent Gray, Phil Mendelson and Kwame Brown.
We would have included Yvette Alexander and Marion Barry in this list, because they initially voted against Evans. That meant that the measure failed, because nine votes are needed to pass emergency legislation.
But shortly after the first vote, the Council revisited the matter, and Alexander and Barry switched their votes. Obviously some deal-cutting is going on. It’s quite disappointing.
D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans (Ward 2) has introduced “emergency” legislation being considered today that would permit groups to smoke cigars at certain events (he is a member of one group that wants to do this on St. Patrick’s Day). We urge smokefree supporters to contact the Council at dccouncil@dccouncil.us and remind theml that the law is the law for very good reasons (worker and public health), and the Council should not bend it. Granting exemptions not only would open the floodgates for others to seek similar exemptions, but would send a message that the Council does not take seriously the laws it passes. And of course, there would be health consequences for the workers at the events. Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death in the District of Columbia, a new report by the city’s Department of Health finds. According to the report, nearly half of all deaths in the District are preventable. Tobacco use is responsible for a third of preventable deaths and 16.6 percent of all deaths in D.C. Other causes of preventable death in the District include poor diet and inactivity (15.1 percent of all deaths), infections (4.6 percent), alcohol use (2.9 percent), firearms (2.7 percent), medical errors (also 2.7 percent), toxic agents (2.1 percent), sexual behavior (0.8 percent), illicit drugs (0.8 percent), motor vehicles (0.6 percent) and lack of insurance (0.6 percent). The report is the first of its kind for the District, which analyzed vital statistics and other data. Note the difference between “cause of preventable death” and “cause of death” – the leading causes of death in the District are heart disease, cancer and cerebrovascular diseases. The District’s findings mirror what’s going on nationally, the report notes. Unfortunately, while the report is thick with numbers, it lacks a strong call to action; the strongest sentence (the last in the report) merely says the challenge is to educate people to encourage behavioral changes and provide people with skills and a healthy environment so they can make healthy lifestyle choices. That funky smell that stays in a room where someone has been smoking earlier isn’t just a bad odor. It likely indicates the presence of carcinogens. A new report about thirdhand smoke – the lingering residue of tobacco smoke – underscores the need for indoor areas to be 100 percent smokefree. The study, done by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, shows that residual nicotine from tobacco smoke adheres to surfaces and reacts with a chemical in the air to form cancer-causing chemicals. The authors note that nonsmokers, particularly infants, are at risk through contact with surfaces and dust that has been contaminated with residual smoke gases and particles. If you aren’t a scientist, you can check out a Science Daily news story about the study for an easier read about the study’s findings. Note that one of the study authors is quoted about how this research raises questions about the safety of electronic cigarettes, devices that contain a battery-powered vaporizer that turns nicotine into a mist. Bottom line: This is yet another reason for comprehensive indoor smokefree policies.
It’s official: If you own a business in D.C. and are having a problem with secondhand smoke drifting inside from smokers outside, you can post “no smoking” signs outside.
The D.C. Council today approved the so-called “sidewalk smoking” provision — a few lines tucked in a much longer bill (18-428) designed to curb tobacco use by minors. It states that business owners can ask smokers to move away from the building. The measure has no enforcement mechanism – disobeying will not lead to a fine or citation. The Council is counting on smokers having the good sense and courtesy to smoke elsewhere. The sidewalk smoking provision says:
The bill passed unanimously on its final reading and will take effect after a mandatory congressional review period.
A big thanks to Councilmember Phil Mendelson, who crafted the provision after Smokefree DC told him of the many calls we have received from people inside offices who were breathing secondhand smoke that had drifted inside. That violates the spirit and intent of the smokefree workplaces law. Since that law doesn’t address outside venues, we asked him about a fix. This was his solution.
Please thank Councilmember Mendelson (pmendelson@dccouncil.us) and the entire Council dccouncil@dccouncil.us.
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